Ezra Frech has been an advocate for persons with disabilities since he was a young boy.
The track and field U.S. Paralympian was born with congenital limb differences — a missing left knee, left fibula and fingers on his left hand. He was determined to create opportunities for people like himself in the world of sports.
Frech, who got his first prosthetic leg at age 11 months, co-founded Angel City Sports and the Angel City Games, a sporting event for children, adults, wounded warriors, and other high-performing athletes with disabilities.
The idea came to Frech and his father, Clayton, after frustrations built of limited opportunity to compete in a Paralympic competition.
“For me to compete in any Paralympic competition, we were having to travel halfway across the country,” Frech told NBC.
Learn more about the worlds of past and future Olympic and Paralympic athletes with our Chasing Gold series
“Oftentimes, living with a physical disability, you feel very isolated, you feel excluded and for a community of fragmented people who often don’t feel like they belong, to bring everybody together in one place, under one roof, and one facility doing something we all love, there’s nothing quite like it.”
Frech, who placed 5th in the high jump and 8th in the long jump in Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, is headed to Paris for his second Paralympic experience. The Los Angeles native won the 2023 World Championship gold medal in high jump.
Most recently, Fench won three titles in the men’s long jump, high jump, and 100m T63 events at the U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships 2024.
